Korean companies have begun to explore the space health care business following the footsteps of global pharmaceutical companies which have been spent a huge money into the business.
In 2022, Boryung ventured into the space health care business.
As part of efforts to explore the space health care business, Boryung hosted the Humans In Space (HIS) Symposium at the 2023 ASCEND(Accelerating Space Commerce, Exploration, and New Discovery) in Las Vegas from Oct. 23 to Oct. 25.
The HIS Symposium was designed to build an industrial ecosystem related to human health and improving of settlement conditions regarding long-term space stay and utilizing of space environment to solve problems of the earth.
The symposium was jointly hosted by Axiom Space and the Space Exploration Initiative of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The main event of the symposium was a final round of the HIS Challenge. About 100 teams from 31 countries around the world participated in preliminary competitions with business ideas.
Fifteen startups and 10 research teams who came up to the final round revealed their solutions and research outcomes.
The finalist team, to be announced later, is to be qualified for $100,000 in an investment fund and an opportunity to join in the so-called AX Mission, being implemented by Axiom Space.
Among the 25 teams who came up to the final round of the HIS Challenge were three Korean startups and researchers.
In April 2023, Boryung struck a deal to establish a joint venture (JV) with Axiom Space to pursue space projects in low-Earth Orbit (LEO) in Washington.
Following its investment of $ 60 million as a strategic investor in Axiom Space last year, Boryung continued on with the business momentum by initiating discussions on the joint-venture with Axiom Space as early as last March.
A view of the new diabetes combination tablet ¡°Trubuddy,¡± released by Boryung.
Boryung¡¯s New Drug ¡®Trubuddy¡¯ Gets Nod from MFDS
Boryung¡¯s diabetes combination tablets ¡°Trubuddy 10/30 mg¡± and ¡°Trubuddy 10/15 mg¡± obtained approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS).
TruBuddy is an improved new drug that combines the SGLT-2 inhibitor ¡°dapagliflozin¡± and the thiazolidinedione (TZD) ¡°pioglitazone.¡± It is the first time a composite drug containing two ingredients has been approved.
Dapagliflozin and pioglitazone are used to treat Type 2 diabetes, which accounts for 90 percent of diabetes patients. They have an effect of lowering blood sugar: a common strength. The combining of the substances has synergetic effects: lowering blood sugar and offsetting side effects.
Boryung said the pharmaceutical company named the new drug as ¡°Trubuddy¡± after the combination of the two substances meaning ¡°True¡± and ¡°Buddy¡±.
The company said the name reflects their determination for the drug to become a companion between medical staff and patients in the diabetes treatment market.
The two substances have an additional effect of lowering blood sugar since they have a different mechanism to do so.
Dapagliflozin has an effect of improving impaired insulin secretion in the pancreas, increasing re-absorption of glucose in the kidneys and decreasing glucose absorption in muscle, part of factors that cause diabetes, while pioglitazone has an effect of improving impaired insulin secretion in the pancreas, increasing glucose production in the liver and declining glucose absorption in the muscle, so the combination of the two substances are more effective in lowering blood sugar.
Apart from the effect of lowering blood sugar, it could reduce cardiovascular deaths, cardiac infarction, other diseases, and blood pressure.